Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Chrysanthemumxc3x97morifolium cultivar Yomariah.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant, botanically known as Chrysanthemumxc3x97morifolium, commercially known as a garden-type Chrysanthemum and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Yomariahxe2x80x99.
The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Salinas, Calif. and Alva, Fla. The objective of the breeding program is to create new garden-type Chrysanthemum cultivars having inflorescences with desirable inflorescence forms, attractive floret colors and good garden performance.
The new Chrysanthemum originated from a cross made in September, 1998 in Salinas, Calif., of the Chrysanthemumxc3x97morifolium cultivar Donna, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,512, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary seedling selection of Chrysanthemumxc3x97morifolium identified as code number 94-L258001, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Chrysanthemum was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross grown in a controlled environment in Alva, Fla. in November, 1999. The selection of this plant was based on its desirable inflorescence form, attractive ray floret color and good garden performance.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Alva, Fla. since January, 2000, has shown that the unique features of this new Chrysanthemum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Yomariah has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Yomariahxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Yomariahxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Upright, outwardly spreading and mounded plant habit.
2. Freely branching habit; dense and full plants.
3. Uniform and freely flowering habit.
4. Daisy-type inflorescences with spoon-shaped ray florets.
5. Golden yellow and orange-colored ray florets and bright yellow-colored disc florets.
6. Natural season flowering in early October in the Northern Hemisphere.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Alva, Fla., plants of the new Chrysanthemum differed from plants of the female parent, the cultivar Donna, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flowered about two weeks later than plants of the cultivar Donna.
2. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum had smaller inflorescences than plants of the cultivar Donna.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Alva, Fla., plants of the new Chrysanthemum differed from plants of the male parent seedling selection, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flowered more uniformly, but about two weeks later than plants of the male parent seedling selection.
2. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum had daisy-type inflorescences with spoon-shaped ray florets whereas plants of the male parent seedling selection had duplex type inflorescences with elongated oblong-shaped ray florets.
3. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum and the male parent seedling selection differed in ray floret coloration as plants of the male parent seedling selection had purple-colored ray florets.
Plants of the new Chrysanthemum can also be compared to plants of the Chrysanthemum cultivar Oriole, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,181. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Alva, Fla., plants of the new Chrysanthemum differed from plants of the cultivar Oriole in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum were smaller and more rounded than plants of the cultivar Oriole.
2. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flowered about three days earlier than plants of the cultivar Oriole.
3. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum had larger inflorescences than plants of the cultivar Oriole.
4. Ray florets of plants of the new Chrysanthemum were lighter in color than ray florets of plants of the cultivar Oriole.